The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum which will summarize the recent findings on how narcotics influence biochemical functions within the nervous system in relation to six general areas: 1. location or sites at which the drugs exert an effect, 2. changes in neurochemical development induced by drugs, 3. effects on brain biochemistry related to hormonal influences, 4. effects on macromolecules in the brain, 5. effects of immuno-responses, 6. effects on neurotransmitters. The publication of the proceedings of such a conference, which will to a considerable degree be multidisciplinary in tone, should provide for a general review of the recent progress and direction being taken in these areas of interest. The need for such "updatings" by symposia is becoming more and more necessary each year with the increasing volume of research publications so that yearly summarizing meetings of "current progress" in a particular area are extremely valuable to the leaders and new workers in any field in which research is progressing rapidly. From such conferences come new ideas for research and new understandings of what has been done. This is particularly necessary in the field of narcotic investigation where despite numerous publications on the potential roles of proteins, nucleic acids, and transmitters, an understanding of the mechanisms which produce tolerance and dependence remains uncertain. The discussions likely to ensue at a conference such as the one presented here during formal discussions, over coffee and at lunch and dinner, occurring between individuals representing many disciplines provoke new questions which lead to modification of experimental design and subsequently to data previously not recognized as potentially relevant to drug dependence.